Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

Today and tomorrow I will be putting the finishing touches on 120 inches of front patio/porch railing... It has been a lot of work, did some minor decorative milling, made real joints (dados etc) instead of the usual butt joints and L brackets most homeowners do, and generally built something that just aint gonna come out without some effor or heavy steel.... Anyhow, I need a break from the heavy lifting and big projects so it is time to switch gears before I take on one of the next major projects (building a shed or painting the exterior).

Figured I'd fix a door... simple right? We have a garage/kitchen entry door that is by code supposed to have an auto close on it. (I guess this is to make it easy to lock oneself out when doing the laundry...) The middle hinge on said is the auto close device and is loaded with a pretty feisty and heavy spring which is needed to move the solid core door to a secured position.

Anyhow, the door frame where the middle hinge is attached is going to need some help. You see the screw threads are stripped out pretty good.

So any ideas? I have considered cutting open the sheetrock in the garage and seeing if I could find some flat head countersunk BOLTS to secure it. But thats a lot of work and should the next ower have need to remove the hinge they would be hosed. I have considerd cutting out a 1/2 to 3/4 inch hole over each screw hole and epoxying a dowel in there and then redrilling the holes... that seems to be a relatively doable idea but I worry about weakening the frame too much.

Any hints as to 'permenantly' repairing a stripped out screw holes for a frequently used hinge that has a lot of force in several directions thanks to the spring closure hinge?

Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

Pre-drill the holes and use 3" screws to reach farther into the framing.
To fill a normal stripped out screw hole for a hinge, remove the screw, smear wood glue on the plain end of a wooden match stem, and break the stem off in the hole. Re-install the screw to re-tighten it. Easy.
Good Luck!
Mike

Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

The wooden match sticks are a tried and true method, but I have found that a small diameter hardwood dowell does an even better job on real heavy doors or like in your case with the auto closer applying high pressure on the center hinge.

__________________
All you need is ignorance and confidence and success is assured. - Mark Twain

Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

I'll probably go for my original dowel idea thanks to housedocs. Better to overbuild a bit.

However there are a couple of places I can use the matchstick idea, and I like it a lot.

As to the autoclosure thing, I was being flippant. I thought it was something to do with fire, not the co2 issue, but that makes perfect sense too. I guess I did not think of it as I do not like having my car on in the garage for but a seocnd or two.. The infiltration that causes me the most irritation is fine sawdust...

I installed a Co2 alarm before I'd start u p the fireplace when we moved in. never can be too careful with that stuff.

Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

Are y'all aware that deck screws have the same head size as the #9 screws that they use for most door hardware? Here in hurricane country, I use at least one per hinge, on the strike plates and space them 2ft. apart on both sides of the frame, three across the top. Follow with Great Stuff foam to fill in the gaps and glue the frame to the trimmers. Voila! The door that's not going anywhere.

Re-Securing A Hinge In A Stripped Out Door Frame

I hear ya Teetor, a longer screw definitely makes for a sounder door. I do the same thing when we install pre-hung door units. No hurricanes up this way, but we do have tornados, which can exert even higher wind forces than a hurricane albeit for a short duration. But yeah the 3" deck screws will hold alot better, with a hex drive you can get much better torque on them also.

__________________
All you need is ignorance and confidence and success is assured. - Mark Twain